Chapter 9 Calder
NINE
Calder
It takes the best part of ten minutes to convince the old lady pointing a Taser at my neck that I don’t mean Kady Sinclair any harm while alpha security guards stand by snickering. When Margie finally climbs off me, I brush myself off, eager to get the hell out of here.
If Ezra found out about this, I’d never live this down.
Today was supposed to be about making my mark.
I was the editor for my last college paper, but it didn’t have half the reach that The Valley Voice does, so I’d been determined to make a strong impression.
However, having my car stolen by an omega and being manhandled by a senior was not on my to-do list.
“I’ve got my eyes on you, Calder Soren!” Margie points two fingers at her eyes then back at me. She’s got surprising strength hiding beneath her crochet cardigan. “Next time I won’t be so nice.”
I stalk away, correcting my clothing while I gather together what remains of my pride.
I stumble back along the path where the car—my fucking car!
—drove moments before. Is this how Kady Sinclair repays me for doing her a favor?
Her audacity is both infuriating and intoxicating.
As is her smell, which I can’t get out of my head.
I put my phone to my ear and call Hale.
“What’s up?” He picks up on the second ring. “I didn’t think I’d hear from you until later, with it being your first day.”
“I need a change of clothes.” I look down at my dirt-covered T-shirt and jeans, which now boast Margie’s boot print. “There’s a problem with my car.” I purse my lips. “Can you give me a ride home?”
“Sure. I could do with a break from dealing with the distributors this morning anyway.” He sighs. “I can meet you at your office in thirty?”
“Thanks,” I grunt. “See you soon.”
Work has been grinding Hale down. I can’t recall the last time I saw him without his work phone in his hand or eating a full meal without dashing off to take a call. Since dropping out of veterinary school to take over his family’s business last year, he’s been on a downward spiral.
While it was a huge display of trust for his dad to sign his global distribution company over to his twenty-five-year-old son to run, it hasn’t come without its challenges.
It’s worlds away from Hale’s old life, where he bounced through the door at the end of the day, regaling us with tales about how he’d saved a dog’s life or delivered a litter of kittens.
Hale had expected to take over Valen Enterprises eventually. It had always been expected of him, his father’s lifelong dream. However, his father’s multiple sclerosis diagnosis threw everything off course.
Nick had been having health problems for years but refused to seek help until he couldn’t ignore them anymore.
Hale hadn’t wanted to upset his dad by refusing to take over the company, but he thought he’d have more time to finish his studies, follow his own dreams, and have a career before fulfilling his familial obligations.
Hell, he doesn’t want to disappoint anyone, which is half the problem.
When I return to The Valley Voice office to wait for my ride and check that everything’s okay, I’m relieved to find that Devon has rounded up the troops. Monitoring the phones, they barely look up as I pass, repeating, “No comment” over and over again.
Devon finally takes a breath and slams the phone down, noticing me. “You’re back.” His eyebrows furrow, surveying my dirty outfit. “How is she?”
“She got back safely,” I reply flatly. “How’s it been going here?”
“We’re holding them off. For now.” Devon checks out his hair in a compact mirror then winces.
“But everyone’s hungry for information. They’re gonna keep hounding us until she speaks out.
I’ve been taking down numbers and emails of magazines that Kady and the Blandon Pack may be interested in speaking to. ”
The Blandon Pack. Just hearing their name makes my hackles rise.
While I only had a quick read of the article, their comments got under my skin.
Why would the strong-willed woman who takes zero bullshit allow herself to be portrayed as a shallow omega who worships those undeserving jerks? And worse, why do I care so much?
I need to ignore the protective urges she seems to have ignited in me because she’s going to be trouble. I sensed it from the moment she walked into the office, surrounded by that delicious scent—and I’m not talking about the Chinese food.
Her smell suddenly struck me, cutting through her layers of scent blocker—understated and elegant, it wrapped itself around me, gripping me in a chokehold.
I only caught a hint of it, but it was enough to make me crave more.
It doesn’t help that she’s also the most stunning woman I’ve laid eyes on.
Her immaculate appearance only made me want to mess up her perfectly primped hair and kiss her until her lip gloss smears and she moans my name.
Most omegas I’ve met have been intimidated by my presence. That or they’ve kissed my ass. Kady, on the other hand, is a bubbling inferno under an icy-cold exterior.
When Ezra told me that I got the editor job when he was negotiating his teaching contact, I was psyched.
We’d also managed to help organize a transfer for the current editor in the process, so I thought it was a win-win scenario.
No one mentioned that there was another reporter already primed to take over.
The same reporter who puts me in my place, says what she thinks, and is furiously unapologetic.
Kady Sinclair is everything I didn’t know I needed. Yet she already has a pack, so I can’t fucking have her.
I’ve met plenty of girls from the same background as Kady, omegas who have never wanted for anything.
Usually, their sole mission in life is to bag an alpha—preferably one who has more money than their daddy—and continue to live the high life.
Kady’s nothing like them. She wants to work.
She has a hunger in her eyes, and seeing a woman like that reduced to mere alpha eye candy by the Blandon Pack is criminal.
Maybe I shouldn’t have said what I did to her. I certainly shouldn’t have asked her to dinner. I was getting ahead of myself. Not to mention how unprofessional it was. She already had no respect for me, and now she’ll think I’m just another rich lothario.
Not that I should care what she thinks. It doesn’t matter when she already confirmed that she’s courting.
My hands curl into fists, imagining how it would feel to drive them into the face of the smug alpha whose scrawny arms were wrapped around her in the article.
Why does the thought of anyone else touching her bother me so much?
“Calder?” Devon’s been talking, but I haven’t been paying any attention. “Are you feeling okay? After your allergic reaction?”
I clear my throat, realizing there’s been a lull in the phone calls, and all the reporters are all looking at me. Their new boss.
“Morning everyone.” I step into professional mode to address the room. “As Devon might have told you, Leah left SVU abruptly. I’ve been appointed as the new editor of The Valley Voice.”
I’m met by a mixture of curious stares, most of them simmering in disapproval. There’s a round of hushed whispers, murmurs of, “What about Kady?”, and one beta flutters her eyelashes at me while unbuttoning her blouse to show more cleavage. I avert my gaze.
“I was the editor for my previous college’s paper.
I look forward to getting to know you all and learning how things work here at SVU.
I’ve already prepared a statement to issue to anyone who approaches us with questions about Kady Sinclair.
” I drafted it on my walk over, something vague and generic that’ll keep the wolves at bay for now.
“As for any interview requests or emails, I will handle them all personally.”
They nod.
“I’ll return in an hour.” I continue, feeling my phone buzz in my pocket. Hopefully it’s Hale saying he’s arrived. “With lunch.”
There’s an excited chatter, but Devon—still not fully won over by me—crosses his arms.
“Not sure the TVV budget covers lunch, boss.” Devon wiggles his eyebrow piercing. “The photography department needs a new lens.”
“Lunch will be on me.” I smile. “It’s the least I can do to thank you all for coming in this morning to help a colleague.”
Devon mumbles something that sounds suspiciously like, “It’ll take a lot more than lunch to make up for taking Kady’s job,” but I let it slide. His loyalty to his friend is admirable. I’ll have to prove myself.
I head down to meet Hale, cringing at the sound of Janice’s engine wheezing. Janice is the name of his beaten-up old truck that he’s driven forever. It belongs in a junk heap, but he treats it like a baby.
“You really need to replace this hunk of junk.” I groan, sliding into the passenger seat.
He ignores me, his eyes expanding at my disheveled appearance. “What happened to you?”
“Don’t ask.”
“Where’s your car?”
“A reporter borrowed it,” I say offhandedly.
“You let a reporter you just met borrow your new car?” Now he’s really stunned. “You haven’t even let me drive it.”
“It’s no big deal.” I shrug. “She needed it, and besides, she didn’t want me to drive because I ate peanuts by mistake—”
“You ate peanuts?!”
“It was an accident.” I ignore his concerned look. “I’m fine. Really.”
We’ve been a pack for the last five years, so we’ve become pretty good at reading each other. We’re able to detect subtle shifts in each other’s mood by body language, scent, and expressions that make it annoyingly hard to hide anything.
“We can swing by the campus clinic to get you checked over to be on the safe side?” he suggests.
“I said, I’m fine.” I don’t mean to snap at him as I slouch in my seat, instantly feeling guilty for acting like an ass when he’s only being nice. “We both know that an EpiPen alone is enough to stop a reaction in an alpha.”
Alpha biology makes secondary allergic reactions unheard of.
He pulls away from the office, but his eyes keep flitting over in my direction. “You don’t seem okay.”
That’s Kady’s fault. She rattled me. Got under my skin.
“I would have taken the bus if I’d known I was going to get an interrogation.”
“Fine, I won’t say anymore.” He turns on the crackly radio. “We don’t have to talk.”
The chatty radio host starts reeling off the latest news. “Speculations are coming through that the daughter of Richard Sinclair has found a pack…”
Back teeth grinding together, I switch the radio off with so much force that I almost yank the button clean off.
“Silence it is, then.” Hale murmurs. “Got it.”
Kady’s not even here, yet she’s still taunting me. Her scent still lingers in my nostrils, making it impossible to stop myself from thinking about how she already has a pack and wishing she didn’t.